Los Angeles County, California
Roof Maintenance in Los Angeles
Two visits a year to a roof that is not leaking. What gets checked, and why the fall visit goes in before October.
Free, and there is no obligation to go ahead.
- Free roof inspection
Someone comes out, gets on the roof, and tells you what they find.
- The price in writing
A written quote before anyone starts, with nothing to sign on the day.
- Licensed roofers
The roofer who turns up holds a current California license.
- Across Los Angeles County
From the Valley and the foothills to the Westside and the South Bay.
Planned maintenance is two visits a year to a roof that is not leaking. On the visit the roof gets walked, the drains and valleys cleared, a hand put on the flashings and penetrations. What comes back is a list of the parts that will fail first, and what each costs to fix while the roof is dry.
Sika Sarnafil names the flashings, pitch pockets, gravel stops and every other penetration as the source of most leaks. They age faster than the membrane around them, and sealing them is cheap.
Tell us what the roof is doing and we can arrange for a roofer to look at it.
- How oftenTwice a year, and in Los Angeles the autumn visit is the one that counts
- WhenBefore the rain rather than during it, so roughly September into October
- What it coversDrains and valleys cleared, every flashing and penetration checked by hand
- Why it mattersWarranties can be voided where scheduled maintenance is not recorded
Two visits a year, and when
The Asphalt Roofing Manufacturers Association asks for spring and fall, and Sika sets the same twice-yearly minimum. In Los Angeles the fall visit carries the year, and it has to land before the rain instead of during it. The spring visit is for what the wet months did.
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals for downtown Los Angeles put the year at 14.25 inches of rain, 13.00 inches of it between October and March, and an August normal of 0.00. A roof here dries out for most of a year, then takes almost all its water in six months.
The visit starts on the ground
The first look happens from the ground and from the underside of the deck. Stains at the top of an interior wall, rust down a downspout, chips of tile in the flowerbed. ARMA calls flashings the most vulnerable points and wants the ceiling below each checked.
The order of work on a low-slope roof
Sika publishes a running order, top of the wall down.
- Cap flashings.Fasteners backed out, sections lifted after a wind event, metal bent enough to hold water and push it through an end joint, sealant gone hard after a summer of sun.
- Edge metal.The stripping over the metal joints is where the sun does its damage, so it lifts and splits early.
- Base flashings.Litter packs in behind the base flashing at a parapet and holds water against it. The top termination has to be secure and covered, with no bridging in the membrane.
- Penetrations.Drain rings buried under a season of leaf fall, clamping rings not sealing, pitch pans low, boot flanges lifting.
- The field.Fasteners tenting the membrane, insulation soft underfoot where a unit has dripped since spring.
Penetrations wear out first
Pourable sealer in a pitch pan shrinks and cracks years before the membrane does, so a pan full at the last visit can be low at this one. Sika lists pitch pans and caulking as semiannual maintenance items.
Rubber pipe boots go first. Sun hardens the rubber and splits the collar, and a boot can be finished while the covering under it has years left. A boot cracked through needs replacing, and so does one rusting at the flange. Sealant elsewhere gets read by hand. If it has pulled off the metal it is done.
What lands on a roof here
The USDA Forest Service street tree study counted about 670,000 city-managed trees in Los Angeles, Mexican fan palm second at 7 percent. On a low-slope roof none of it washes anywhere. It banks up in the drain sumps and against the curbs until someone lifts it off. The Los Angeles Fire Department asks owners to keep drains, gutters and downspouts clear, and says it matters most on flat roofs. The same litter is a fire risk in September and a dam in November. Clearing it and resealing what it uncovers is C-39 work, and gutters can be cleared with it.
The file and the warranty
ARMA wants the installation records, the roof plan, the installing contractor and the warranty kept with every inspection and repair since. A warranty claim asks for all of it at once. Sika states that warranties can be voided by a lack of scheduled inspections and maintenance, that repairs must go to a contractor it has authorized, and that a leak has to be reported in writing within seven days.
What changes the price
There is no published band for maintenance, and nobody can price a roof without standing on it. What moves the number is size, slope, the count of curbs, drains and penetrations, access, and how far behind it is.
Firestone Building Products and ProLogis, over fifteen years, put maintained low-slope roofs at 14 cents per square foot a year against 25 cents for the ones left alone, and 21 years of service against 13. Why that gap gets so large is on the commercial roofing page. Repair pricing is on the costs page.
Common questions
Can the visit fix what it finds?
Clearing drains, topping up pitch pans and resealing joints are the kind of work that can happen on the visit. Membrane repairs under a manufacturer warranty go to a contractor that manufacturer has authorized. Anything larger is roof repair, priced on its own.
Can I check it myself between visits?
From the ground and from upstairs windows with binoculars, as ARMA recommends, looking for displaced tile, lifted metal and litter in the valleys. ARMA tells owners not to climb onto a roof at all. On tile there is a second reason, on the tile roofing page. Ask for a quote and a roofer can go up instead.
The offer
$500 off a new roof, 10% off any repair
Start online and it is attached to your request, with nothing to remember.
- We get on the roof, and into the attic if that is where the answer is
- You get photographs of whatever we find
- The price in writing, with nothing to sign on the day
Where we work
Across Los Angeles County
Tell us what is going on
A description is enough to start. We will come out, look at the roof properly, and give you the price in writing.